Freight-handling system



Dec. 8, 1925 `1,564,420

H. w. KIRCHNER FREIGHT HANDLING SYSTEM Filed June 6, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet, l

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Dec. 8, l925- H. W. KIRCHNER FREIGHT HANDLING SYSTEM FiledA June 6. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec.A 8, 19.25.

UNITED STATES HENRY w. KIRCHNER, or s'r. Louis, MISSOURI.

FREIGHT-HANDLING SYSTEM.

Application mea June c, 1923. serial No. 643,728.

To all 'wlw/m. it may concern:

Be it known that'I, HENRY W. KIRCHNER,

a citizen. of the United States,;residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Freight- Handling Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such 'as will enable 'others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same', reference being had to the accompanying draw- Y ines, formin part of this application.

ly invention relates to transportation sys? tems in which the freight is carried in containers adapted to be mounted upon various types of carriers such as railroad cars, mo-

l tor trucks, barges, and the like, [which containers may be loaded and: unloaded at the terminal points of theshipping.

The objects of such systems are to protect the freight against theft or other injury during transportation and to facilitate the -by the shipper and consignee.. By means.

handling of freight in less than carload lots of such systems, carriers may beloaded and unloaded in minimum of? time and the tie-up .of the carriers is eliminated.

The objects of my present invention are to provide improved facilities for loading and unloading the vconta'inersfrom the carriers to provide means for handling classes o freight' which are not necessarily enclosed during shipment, and to handle classes of freight `which'areof a nature which pre-y vente their-being acked in small containers, suc'h as have hit erto been shown. in such systems. I refer, for instance, to lumber. structural steel shapes, machinery, and other merchandise shipped in large units.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate ag selected embodiment .of my system,- 1

railroad 'terminal which is provided with 'trackage `t() accommodate Acarriers and oontainers of the type referred to.

Figure 2V is an elevation of a portionof the system illustrated 1n Figure l. v

. Figure 3 is adetail view of a carrier and- I Figure 6 is a transfer section taken on line i 6-6 of Figure 5. n

; Figures 7 and 8 are an end view and\a cross section, respectively, of a brake operat-` ing mechanism'for use-1n connection with the carriers illustrated in the previous figures.

' In Figure 1 warehouse walls are indicated at 1 andv are provided with door openings' 2 which open onto a platform 3 and a series of tracks located at the warehouse floor level.

Parallel railroad tracks 4 running trans-2 verselyof the warehouse wall and preferably aligned r'espectivelyxwith doors 2' of' the warehouse are located on. the ground level. At each side and above each of these tracks 4 are ramptracks which are horizontal for a' substantial distance at a level approximately the same as the warehouse floor and beyond their horizontal portions are inclined downwardly as indicated at 6. The spaces between ramp rails 5 yof thelsame ytrack may be bridged by removable skids 7.

which carry rails and may be positioned at different points to cooperate with permanent cross tracks f10' toeprovide ltransfer tracks for moving the containersfroin one ramp track 5 to another ramp track aty various points in4 their length as indicated. Several suchskids may be alignedwith each other to form acontinuous elevated track.

extending parallel withy the warehouse wall. The warehouse floor is equipped with tracks 11 which extend over platform 3 Abeyond the warehouse door and between the ramp track rails 5 which latter are on a Wider gauge than tracksv 11. The objectsI ofs this, difference in gauges will be explained below. Another -track 12 on platform 3 extends transversely of tracks 11. The tracks 4 are standard railway gauge andare y intended for the use of standard railway cars, as well as the specially equipped cars forming a part of mv system.

Cars to be used in my system resemble the .ordinary flat oar in general appearance and are adapted to mount merc andise conf tainers upon their latforms. A form -of these containers -is illustrated in Figures 2 and 8 and consists'in a rigidunderframe of longitudinal and transverse-beams 13 having a skeleton superstructure 14 for the purposey of .carrying and retaining lumber or structural beams 15 as indicated in Figure 3. These containersv are provided in units Ell) -of such size that a number of them can mounted upon a single carrier 16 andmay \be mounted either close to each other as these containers projects beyond the sides of the carrier ilocr and is there provided with a supporting element here shown as comprising an anti-friction caster 17 by means of which element th'econtainer may be rolled about a platform 3 or 'warehouse' door and over a series of tracks formed of concave rails 18. The tracks 5, 10, 11 and 12 are formed of these concave rails 18 and it will be apparent that as a carrier 16 is moved along one of tracks 4 toward the warehouse the inclined portion 6 ofthe ramp tracks will engage casters 17 and elevate the containers above the carrier platform, thus releasing the car from its load. From then on the container may be moved over tracks 5, 1-0, 11 and 12 without danger to the carrier and with little effort.

It will be noted-,that the positioning of casters 17 on the containers is such that 'there is a'wide gauge transversely of the container and a narrow gauge longitudinally of the container.v The transverse wide gauge corresponds to the gauge of ramp tracks' and the longitudinal narrow gauge corresponds tothe gauge of tracks 1'0, 1.1 and 12. By this arrangement, the left.- hand containerA, for instance, shown in Figure 1, may be moved to the left 'until its casters align with tracks 12 from whence it may be'moved at right angles along tracks 12 to another ramp track 5 or to a storage or unloading position at any point on vtrac 12.

In front ,of each warehouse door wall a circle track 19 is provided, the diameter of which corresponds to the diagonal of one of the rectangles formed by the intersection of a narrow gauge track 12 with the broad gauge ramp track 5. `When container A is moved to the point of intersectiono'f these tracks extending at right angles it may not only be moved at right angles to its previous direction but it may be turned in a partial or complete circle, and consequently may be moved into the warehouse on track 11 either at the first warehouse door or`at any other door by movement along track 12.y

Obviously the carrier 16 may be pulled out from beneath the containers supported upon ramp tracks 5 and go into immediate service without waiting for the containers -to be unloaded. In other vfords, a loaded carrier or a train of loaded carriers could vlcerun in between the rails et a ramp track ing raised from the car door-and to provide for release of the containers `from the car, suitable container engaging and disengag ing mechanism is necessary' and such 1s detailed in Figures 5 and 6. In these figures the car iloor is indicated at 20 and the car'wside sill at 21. A portion of a'container 13 is shown `with its anti-friction supporting element 17 projecting beyond the side of the car.- This supporting ele- 4' the container lengthwise' of the latter, as

well as ci'osswise, to form a bumper 23. Vertical pockets 2st` are provided on the inner'face of the car side sills )1- a'nd slidable in these pockets are posts 25 which maybe projected above the car floor as' shown tc engage the' containers or may be retracted below the car floor to permit movement of the car independently voi" the container, this relative movement taking place of course when "the containers'are supported upon the ramp tracks. y

To elevate and lower the posts 25 a bell crank 26 is pivoted at 28 on the car side and one arm of this bell crank is pivotally connected to posts 25 by a link.27 andthe' other arm of the bell crank is pivotally connected by a link 29 to a rod 30extend- -ing longitudinally of the car and similarlyconnected lto other bell cranks for other posts. These posts are to be located at intervals along the car either corresponding to the lengthof containers A or at distances i VVhilethe, cars are en route the containers are prevented from shiftlng upon the car doors by the interengagement of dowels 31 and suitable'pockets 32 therefor provided in the floor 20 of the car. The depth of dowels 31 will be less than the rise in ramp tracks 5 so that when the containers are f mounted on the horizontal upper portions of the ramp tracks these duivels willl clear the car fioor. The maximum projection of post 25 above .the car Hoor is great enoughv to engage the containers even when thel latter are raised above the car floor by the ramp. tracks.

'When loading, such as lumber, is being transported, it is unnecessary to have a continuous supporting ,surface `and the provision `of containers the` full length of the 'car would be superfiuous. At the same time it would be necessary to hold the containers tion of the latter.

in certain relations to each other when the containers were on the ram or transfer tracks. To take care of this problem I have provided spacing members 33 (Figure 3) each of which is hinged on one container and provided with a hook-shaped end adapted to engage a suitable element 34 upon vthe container. Of course whenlthe containers are on the car they are prevented from longitudinal shifting by their dowels 31 and the car floor sockets 32. lVhennot in use these members 33 may be turned back as indicated in dottedlines near the center of Figure 3 or they may be removed from the container altogether. At the left of Figure 3, another use of member 33 is indicated. Here they are hooked onto a cross brace 41 to hold the end of the load against shifting.

lVith a car and container arrangement of this description it is of course impossible to have a brake mast arising from the car iioor or projecting in any manner so as tointerfere with the free movement of the containers on and off of the cars. In Figures 7 and 8 I have illustrated a brake arrangement which is somewhat automatic and Which does not project above the car floor so as to interfere with the relative movement of the fontainers. In this arrangement the brake rigging will be of the usual type and include an ordinary brake chai-n 35 which will be Wound upon the brake drum 36 consisting of a short length of shafting mounted in the box 37 and supports 38 and 39. The lower portion of this brake drum is -provided with a beveled pinion 40 adapted, when lowered,` to mesh With another beveled pinion 42 mounted upon a horizontal shaft 43 which carries a Worm wheel 44 at its other end and this worm wheel is driven by a Worm 45 carried by the car axle 46. A coiled spring 47 in box 37 tends to hold drum 36 in the high.v pinion disengaging position shown in the drawings. The upper end of drum 36 is provided with a disk 48 which may be pressed downwardly by the foot of a brakei'nan or other Workman until a shoulder 49 is engaged by a spring catch 50 which holds the drum in a low, pinion engaging position whereby the movement of the car will rotate worm 45, wheel 44,*pinions 42 and 41 and drinn 36 so as to wind up chain 45 and set the brakes. It is inmxaterial in which direction the car is n'ioving as chain 35 will be wound on drum 36 irrespective of the rota- Foot pressure upon the pin 51 will withdraw catch 5() and release lshoulder 49 and drum 3G from the axle engagement and permit the brakes to be released.

rl`he above described system makes possible the Loading and unloading of any kind of freight practically instantaneously and withoutdalnage. No cranes, derricks or other machinery is necessary. It will be understood that the container engaging posts are selectively operated so that one or more containers may be unloaded upon the ramp tracks .as desired. At large terminals the facilities thus provided for the loading and unloading of quantities of freight should release immense numbers of cars for their intended use and eliminate their use as storage houses.

Tl'n'oughout this specification I have referred to the carrier in the form here illustrated vand described, namely, a railroad car, but it will be understood that other forms of carriers may be us'ed with the saine system of ramp and transfer tracks and it will be understood that closed containers such as-described in my copending application Serial Number 561,404 may be used as Well as the ipen containers here illustrated.

I claim:

1. In a freight transfer system, a carrier, freight containers adapted to be carried thereby, and ar series of tracks crossing each other and located above the height of the carrier floor, said containers being provided with caster-like'members for moving ove'.l said tracks.

2. In a freight transfer system, a carrier, a' freight container adapted to be carried thereon and provided with caster-like supports, tracks adapted to engage said supports and arranged to permit said container to be rolled olf of the carrier, tracks intersecting said first-mentioned tracks, and so arranged that said container may be turned thereon.

3. In a freight transfer system, a carrier, .freight containers adapted to be carried thereby and provided with caster-like supports, and a series of tracks adapted to be engaged by said supports andarranged at angles to each other and including sections for turning said containers so that they may lie moved over different tracks.

4. In a freight transfer system, a carrier. freight containers adapted to be carried thereby and provided with caster-like supports located beyond the sides of said carriers, ramp tracks paralleling the sides of the carrier and adapted to engage said container supports as the carrier is moved between the ramp tracks, to raise thelatter from the carrier, and transverse tracks crossing said ramp tracks and adapted to receive said. supports.

5. In a freight transfer system, a carrier, a container adapted to be carried thereon, ramp tracks between which said carrier may move and which will engage said container and raise the same from the carrier, elevated tracks having a different gauge than said ramp tracks and located between them beyond a point to which said carrier maymove, and a circular track intersecting said ramp tracks and elevated tracks whereby said container may be shifted from'one to the other.

6. In a frei ht transfer system, intersecting tracks of ifl'erent gauges, a circular rail passing through the intersection of the rails of said tracks, and a rectangular container having four caster-like supports arrangedy at its corners, the distance between opposite supports lengthwise of the container corresponding to the gauge of one of said tracks and tlie distance between opposite supports crossWise of the container corresponding to the gauge ofthe other of said tracks.

7. In a freight transfer system, a rectangular container having caster-like supports at its four corners, a track having a gauge corresponding to the distance between the supports arranged longitudinally of the container, a track paralleling said first-inentioned track and locatedbetween the rails of the same and having a gauge corresponding to the distance betweenl tliesupports arrangedtransversely of the container, and a single rail in the yform of a circle intersecting said tracks `and having a diameter corresponding to the distancebetween the container supports .arranged diagonally of the container. 8. In a freight transfer' system, a carrier and a 'plurality of freight containers mounted on said carrier andy adapted to cooperate with each other to carry freight and to be moved onto'and ovof said carrier as a rigid unit. 4

'9. freight transfer system, a carrier and a plurality of freight containers mounted on'said carrier in spaced relation'to each other and adapted to cooperate with eachv other yto form a rigid unit for carrying-merchandise in the form of articles too long to be loaded on a single container.

10. In a freight transfer system, a carrier. and a pliirality of freight containers mounted on said carrier in spaced relation to each other and movable onto and off of said f carrier, and means for preserving the spaced relation of said container when a unit ,under a common load.

11; In a freight transfer system, a carrier and a plurality iffreight containers mounted on said carrier,.each consisting of a skeleton, frame liavingihorizontal beams disposed transversely of the carrier, side stakes extendin upwardly therefrom, and means for rigid y connecting said frames to each other at spaced intervals.

12. In `a freight transfer system, a carrier and a plurality of freight containers mounted on said carrier, each c'onsistin of a skeleton frame extending beyond the sides moving as y of the carrier and thereprovided with antifrictionsupport members, and ramp tracks paralleling the container and adaptedv to' yengage said container support members and so as to engage or disengagesaid container l horizontally, and means extending longitudinally of the carrier and connected to each of said posts and adapted to operate the j latter simultaneously.

15.' vIna frei 'ht transfer'systein, a. carriei'. a container mounted thereon, posts projectableand retractable through thecarrier so as to engage or disengage said container horizontally, vertical bell cranks pivoted to the container, respective links connected to one arm of each bell crank and to the lower. end of an adjacent post, and a rod extendin longitudinally of the' carrier and connecte to the other arm of eachbell crank whereby all of said posts may be operatedsimultaneously.

16. In a freight transfer system, a. carrier, a vpluralit of containers thereon, posts projectable an retractable through the oor of said carrier to'present an engaging surface opposed to the ends of adJacent containers, said containers being provided with bumpers which extend into and in vengagement with each other and. space the .post engageable surfaces of -the containers from each other a greater distance than the width of said posts.

17. In combination, a. carrier, a container mounted thereon, a bumper on said container, container engaging posts on said. ca'rrier, and other interengaging elements on said carrier and container. Y 18. In combination, carriers, a carrier track, containers on said carriers, an antifriction sup ort element on said containers, a .ramp trac for engaging said anti-friction supporting velement to -raise .said containersfrom said carrier, bumpers on said containers adapted to engage each other, posts on iis said carrier adapted to engage said containers when the containers are elevated, and inteengaging elements on said carrier and containers forwsecuring the latter against "shifting when the containers are seatedfon said skids.

20. In combination, vparallel tracks, movmoved at right angles-.'to'ff'said tracks over able skids adapted to be placed between and adjoining said tracks at desired positions along the same, and containers adaptedv to be moved at'right angles to said tracks over said skids.

21. Incombination, parallel tracks, ramp tracks associated therewith, skids adapted to be placed between and adjoining said ramp said tracks, and ramp tracks connecting with the tracks of said series.

24. In combination, elevated tracks of different gauges, circle tracks intersecting said tracks, merchandise containers having dowels projecting downwardly from their floors and being mounted on revolving ball caster supports adapted to be moved on each ofA said tracks, ramp tracks inclined and connecting with said elevated tracks, and a carrier with spacing sockets`adapted to receive said dowels when said containers move down said ramp tracks and onto said carrier.

25. In combination, an elevated platform, a carrier, a merchandise container with revolving ball caster supports, a ramp' track, the rails 'of which receive said casters, and a level extension of said ramp track flush with said platform.

26. In combination, intersecting tracks of different gauges, a circle track intersecting said tracks, a merchandise container having revolving ball caster supports at' different distances from,each otherto fit (each of said tracks. 27. In combination, a container having revolving ball caster supports arranged at the corners of a rectangle, tracks of different gauges, a circle track intersecting said tracks and in diameter coinciding with-the diagonal of said rectangle.

28. In combination, parallel tracks, cross tracks adjustable longitudinally of said par allel' tracks, and containers movable over said .parallel tracks and vover said cross tracks.

29. In combinationpparallel tracks, containers movable thereover, and adjustable skids for transferring said containers from one of said parallel tracks to another.

80. In combination, parallel tracks havsignature this ing grooved rails, the groove walls of which are cut away at right angles and provided with lateral groove extensions, removable skids and parallel grooved rails mounted on said skids `and spaced apart so as to ali with two of said extensions to form trans er means between said tracks. Y

31. In combination, parallel tracks having grooved rails, the groove walls of which-are cut away at right angles and provided with lateral groove extensions, Vremovable skids and parallel grooved rails mounted on said skids and spacedapart so as to align with two of said extensions to form transfer means between said tracks, and merchandise containers having revolving ball support members adapted vto move along said lgrooved rails.

3 2. In combination, a carrier, containers mounted thereon, 'ramp'tracks adapted to engage said containers and having level portions, a platform of the elevation of the level portion of saidramp tracks and having tracks of different gauges, and a circle track intersecting the platform tracks to permit a movement of said 'containers in any direction. v

33. In combination, a platform with tracks at right angles to eachother, a circular intersecting track, saidv tracks having concave rails, and merchandise containers .sol

having ball caster-like supports adapted to revolve in any direction and fitting in the' concave portions of said rails.

34. In combination, a. carrier having cor.- I

vtrack intersecting the other tracks, containers nwith spacing dowel,- spacing bumpers and spacing bars adapted to maintain said containers at distances correspondingfto said carrier spacing sockets and' posts.

'35. In a freight transfer system, a railway car, and a plurality of wheeled freight containers mountedon said'car and adapted to cooperate with each other to carry freightand to be moved onto and olf of said car' as a rigid unit.

36. In a freight transfer system, a carrier, l.

and aplurality of freight containers mounted on said carrier, each adapted to be moved individually with 'a load of freight andv adapted to coo rate with an .adjacentcarrier to be move therewith asa unit.

In testimony whereof hereunto, aix my 923 twenty-sixth day 'of May, 1

HENRY W. 

